Obviously, the “official plan” is a diversion. Too bad he could not hide it better.
And the real plan is in the “last minute notes”… which may or may not have been relayed/hinted to Nastajia & co in advance.

This is actually an interesting possibility. Dan obviously knows that Nicodemus began as the advisor for the rulers of Dreamland, and did that for a LONG time before deciding to ally with the Nightmare Realm to stop Arthur.

He also knows that historically one of the things a ruler has to worry about — especially one who’s gotten there by a coup — is whether his allies are giving him good intel, and if he suspects they’re not, whether that’s due to his opposition being very good, or his “allies” planning to throw him to the wolves. One who gained his throne by treachery will not be slow to suspect treachery in others, especially the others who helped INCITE him to treachery in the first place.

So Dan could easily be DELIBERATELY making his public plans just crude enough to make Nicodemus suspicious, put a wedge between him and his allies.

Or it could also be that the betrayal has already begun and Dan’s public plans weren’t nearly so crude, but the Wraiths are deliberately misreporting, planning on screwing Nic over since the Chosen One has appeared and they (probably) don’t dare kill him in the Real World.

I wonder what the point of laying siege without siege weapons is. Ok, the rock folks can throw… rocks. But then you have to storm the city and that’s something I wouldn’t do when the city has a walking and flying flamer that can roast 99% of your own infantry by merely sneezing at them.

Plus the significant number of civilians in the city.

I’m curious now what kind of “brilliant” plan a 20 year old can devise from reading a few books on warfare and historic battles (all of which never had to deal with a dragon sitting in a fortified city.) Dan’s a smart guy, no doubt. But reading about strategy and executing it are two pair of shoes. And remember what Helmut von Moltke said: “No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.”

Personally I think Nick and his wraiths did the right thing with getting rid of Arthur. Arthur was a fool.

Well, you may have to take into consideration that Dan won’t be present for the first engagement…or any of them. He did the best he could from the real world with the understanding that he wouldn’t get to be there to help alter plans on the fly.

Keep in mind that Dan has access to two things: the accumulated history of all documented sieges and expert commentary on the same. The first provides an overwhelming amount of info while the second provides a peer-reviewed weighed system to determine which strategies are best for specific situations. Think about it. With the library and internet, Dan has access to cummulative expertise of all the world’s experts on medieval warfare.

Plus he can apply existing technology in advanced ways. For example, the French using dragons for rapid artillery and troop movements in the Tremeraire series by Naomi Novik, or using tents and bamboo poles to create an aerial troop of hang gliders (from the “There Will Be War” short story anthologies).

I feel it necessary to state some thing obvious. The “war plane” idea has existed since World War I. In the US there is an example of some thing similar to Nic. The now retired B-22 Bomber, AKA the Flying Fortress. I am pretty sure that Dan planned for Nic to be active in the battle. Granted he doesn’t know exactly how to create a counter to dragon fire, beyond the simplistic idea of carrying water buckets which would get them all killed, but I am pretty sure a metal shield wouldn’t burn to easily. Besides, there are thousands of documented castle sieges from the middle ages. I am pretty sure some one has tried to siege a castle with out siege weapons being readily apparent (we don’t know if they don’t have siege weapons, or if they do have siege weapons).

Just wanted to say, found your comic through your guest strip at Red String, and I’m REALLY glad I saw it. I love CG modeling (it’s what I’m studying in school for), so seeing this comic has really gotten me excited for it. Will be following the rest of the story raptly!

I love your Red String comic! Very cute.
As for the plan, what do I think? Maybe Nic is just belittling Dan’s plan, and he does know the REAL plan. It’s also possible that the wraiths missed the last “crucial” part of Dan’s plan, so Nic thinks he knows everything, but this last instruction (that Alex just delivered) will be the winning move. I’m happy seeing how all this plays out :).

I think Dan has leaked a false plam to Nic. Dan is not the kind of person to come up with a crude and simplistic plan. Dan would have a plan that would stimulate “impressive, most impressive” comments.